


An Old Orphic Tradition

by BoPeepWithNoSheep



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone: Balance (Podcast)
Genre: Deals with gods, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kid Fic, Lost Love, Lup and Barry find Celestial loopholes, M/M, Memory Loss, Orpheus and Eurydice Myth, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Power of Love, journey through the astral plane, so no one dies IN FIC, technically the major character death is like 2000 years ago
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-08-11 00:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16465517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoPeepWithNoSheep/pseuds/BoPeepWithNoSheep
Summary: Two millennia and a day, the end of Kravitz' sentence is fast approaching.





	1. Prologue

Nearly two millennia ago, The Grim Reaper can’t be sure any longer so much time has past but he lost someone. A spouse, or a sibling, perhaps even a child lost to clutches of death and time now but once, when the Grim Reaper was only a Man he could not live without them. He traveled to the astral plane, faced every defense to The Raven Queen’s stronghold and countered them with clever bouts of Bardic magic. A year and a day he traveled, deeper into her realm, every passing moment growing gaunter, thinner, closer to death but no less determined.

Eventually, after tireless days of struggling and clawing his way past traps and barricades meant to keep the living away, he came before the Raven Queen. The man bowed in supplication before her, he had not come to steal from her, only to plead his case. The Raven Queen was amused, this mortal who would brave her realm where others would turn to necromancy and dark arts to steal of her subjects. She waved a hand and the man rose, **_WHO DO YOU SEEK?_** She asked, for why else would anyone come to her domain but to demand a Lost One.

The man moved to explain, explain his love, explain his loss, explain his hardship and strife on his way to ask her anything at all. The man asked for the return of his lost one but The Queen was unmoved. The man pleaded for the life that was stolen so prematurely but The Raven Queen stayed silent. The man raged over the unfairness of senseless death, and she still she merely watched him squirm.

When all seemed hopeless, the goddess of death imperious and careless of his pain the man began to cry. As his tears fell upon the floor of Her court, he pulled out his harp and played not for the Raven Queen but one last song for his Lost One. For, in the land of the dead and it’s uncaring matriarch this was perhaps the closest he would ever come to them again. The man poured his soul and entire being into his piece, a lamenting lullaby filled with the deepest of sorrows and the croons of mourning doves. 

The Raven Queen shed a single tear. 

The Queen rose from her throne, woeful and terrifying and made the man an offer, she would spare his Lost One if and only if he could do an impossible task. Swim the Sea of Souls, find his Lost One, and lead them back the way he had come. If he succeeded she would let them both leave, live their lives free of her cold specter. However, if the man failed she would take him, keep him until the day that his Lost One had finally cycled through the Sea of Souls and could be returned to the world of the living with new life. Then, after all that time she would finally grant the man his boon, allow him to pass on then and be reborn together.   
  
Kravitz failed in his task, and The Queen Kept him.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey, Boneboy, how’d a nerd like you end up as _The Reaper_ anyway?” 

Lup is panting, somehow the whole reaper practice thing always wears out her and Barry while leaving Kravitz fresh as a goddamn daisy. Something about being unused to their new forms and unable to control their constructs--Which is bullshit, because as liches they should be pros at that type of thing but apparently Big Momma’s juju and lich magic aren’t compatible.

It’s not a surprise but it sure is annoying.

Kravitz is settling into his desk, gesturing for them to sit opposite in the plush chairs. Lup sprawls across one, kicking her feet up onto his desk. Kravitz rolls his eyes, but Lup’s pretty positive it’s affectionate. 

“What? Oh, it’s been such a long time, I barely remember the  _ exact  _ circumstances but I suppose I made a deal, just like you two.” 

That pulls Lup’s previous thoughts to an absolute halt, “What?  _ You _ committed death crimes?” 

Kravitz takes her incredulity in stride, a smile spreading across his face as he shrugs, “Well, I  _ tried _ to, Her Majesty was rather quick to shut that down before I could do much more than trespass on domains mortals were not meant for.” 

“Were you a lich?” It’s the first thing Barry’s said since they arrived in the office. Lup glances at him out of the corner of her eye. There’s a furrow in his brow like he’s trying to figure out if he’s misjudged Kravitz.

Across the desk, Kravitz outright laughs, batting one hand in the air, “Oh, Ravens, no! I just...There was someone I wanted to bring back. I tried to make a deal for them but as you can see I wasn’t exactly successful.”

“Wait a hot damn minute--You’re, like, an indentured servant?”

“Technically, I suppose but,” Kravitz pauses tapping lightly on his desk as he seemed to count out the years on one hand, “I think my sentence is almost up, actually. Huh, time flies and all that.”

“Uh, what happens when your sentence is up?” Lup shifts her whole body, languidly as a cat so she can lean forward, both elbows on his desk and head resting in her hands.

A bit of the joviality drops from Kravitz’ face, his smile tenses--Like when they see something ** _bad_** on the job but he’s still got the persona to keep up. He shuffles a few papers but his focus is on a small vase in the corner of the room, brimming with rainflowers.

“Nothing terribly important.” 

Lup frowns. Well,  _ that’s  _ something to look into.


	3. Orphic Interlude

Once a man's music had graced the banquet halls of great kings and mighty empresses. Many vied for the privilege of having him for their court, but the man was humble, the man did not play for glory or gold. He played for love. A love of his craft, a love of life, a love for one little girl. 

Once a man had a daughter, born in the spring he made her crowns of flowers and wrote endless lullabies. He named her Zisel, for the sweet sound of her voice and the sweet-smelling blossoms he wove into her braids, which she wore when she wanted to look like her Papa. She lived five summers but passed in the winter, before the flowers could bloom. 

A man became a mourner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Every other chapter in here will be an 'orphic interlude' tell the story of Kravitz' life and subsequent journey to the astral plane! Why have I changed the Eurydice-equivalent from a wife to a daughter? Because I fucking love Dadvitz and all of you can fight me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup has a Talk with Big Momma about all this.

Lup walks into the Raven Queen’s chambers with the exact amount of respect and veneration she feels necessary to her sort of patron, sort of boss, sort of owner of her immortal soul, “Yo, Big Momma!”

There is a scattering of feathers as the sound of fluttering bird wings echoes through the seemingly endless room. Upon her throne, the Raven Queen sits perches and overbearing. Were Lup a normal mortal her eyes would only see the Holy Light drifting from every facet of her being but as an emissary she can see, just barely and imperceptibly beyond that veil when Her Majesty wishes it. Right now, Lup can see the faint outline of a woman beyond the deathly pale light, a circlet of feathers resting upon a pale cracked raven’s skull which Lup and Barry are currently holding a bet over whether it’s actually her head or a mask.

A voice, layered over a thousand times with birdsong and a hundred clicks and rattles speaks as she holds out a massive, bony hand, _**YES, MY CROW?**_

Lup takes the invitation for what it is, walking over and letting the faint magic of death surround her as she takes one step then two off the ground. Walks up the invisible ramp or weird holy juju until she steps up onto her Majesty’s extended hand, “Uh, so we’re like your employees right?”

The Raven Queen cocks her head to the side, faintly curious in that birdlike way of her’s and Kravitz, _**YOU ARE MY CHILDREN.**_

Lup nods, because sure, that checks out, “Mhmm, I get that the whole mama bird vibes are strong as hell, but like _contractually_?”

This seems to give her goddess pause, celestial feathers around her collar bristling ever so slightly. Lup makes a note of that, were she anyone else she’d probably curb her line of questioning but she isn’t anyone else. Lup limits herself for no one, not even a goddess who literally has her in the palm of their hand.

_**YOUR SOULS ARE BOUND TO MY CELESTIAL BEING. YOU ARE MINE AND I HAVE DEIGNED TO CAST YOU AS MY CHILDREN.** _

“Cool, cool, cool,” She gives her lady a pair of finger guns as she prepares her next inquiry. This is really where things have the potential to get tricky because just as much as Kravitz gets fritzy when they ask to many questions about Big Momma she’s all but positive that said feelings go both ways, “So what about Kravitz, he says his deal came with, like fine print.”

There is a deathly silence in the goddess’ royal chambers, neither of them actually need to breathe so there isn’t even the soft intake of breath to soothe the tense atmosphere. The Raven Queen ever so slowly lifts her palm and Lup along with it so she can look her reaper directly in the eye.

Lup does take a breath now, unnecessary or not, looking into the eyes of a goddess just does something to a person’s head. Momentarily Lup feels like she’s simultaneously staring into a pair of neutron stars. Dense with power and possibility and a sort of existential decay that would drive a living person _mad_.

_**MY RAVEN--MY KRAVITZ…HE IS DIFFERENT.** _

Lup finally breaks eye contact, the unearthly hold of her goddess’ gaze lessening ever so slightly as the massive woman lowered her back down to her former position. It means Lup has to crane her neck but that’s a little preferable to getting derailed by the eldritch nature of Big Momma’s big old eyes, “Uh, good different or bad different.”

The Raven Queen bristles again but this time seems different, she looks almost pensive and while she does not do something so mortal as sigh--Lup’s certain no air has left her lungs in millenia upon millenia, her shoulders slump just a tick. If not for her place in the woman’s palm, Lup isn’t sure if she would have noticed.

 _ **HIS TIME WAS NOT PROMISED SOLELY TO ME. YOU AND BARRY WILL BE MINE FOR ETERNITY. I WILL HAVE TO LET KRAVITZ**_ GO, _ **WHEN OUR TIME TOGETHER IS UP.**_

“Uh, hold the fuck up, Big Momma--Kravitz said--He said his sentence is ending soon.” There’s panic in her words, and she searches the featureless bird head for any sort of tells. Searches the slant of her shoulders and the tenseness of the fingers beneath her feet. All her goddess’ tells have frozen like a marble statue and it makes Lup want to _scream._

_**IT IS.** _

“And you’re just gonna, what? Kick him out?” Lup can’t help her voice rising in volume, the panic welling up in her chest at the idea of Kravitz leaving--Of Kravitz leaving Taako. Gods, she’d been so grateful after she’d been done ribbing her brother about everything. That he’d found a partner he didn’t have to fear losing just like she’d managed, “What the fuck does ‘let him go’ even mean?”

_**THERE IS A SOUL THAT LINGERS IN MY SEA, KRAVITZ SOLD HIS OWN FOR THE PROMISE OF HERS. IF HE WISHES TO RETURN TO HER HE WILL HAVE TO...MOVE ON.** _

“Wait--Like rebirth?” Reincarnation and resurrection weren’t technically things that Lup had ever fucked with. She was a lich, but that was an entirely different manner of necromancy. Barry might have dipped his toes in further on the subject but Lup’s never been interested. The mechanics and implications of normal _celestial_ reincarnation and resurrection are even more lost to her and damnit, she wishes she’d brought Barry as backup now.

Then a thought occurs to her, a tidbit from one of Kravitz’ many lectures on minor and major knowledge about the astral plane, “Holy shit, how _old_ is Kravitz it takes--What the fuck--It takes a thousand years for souls to filter through that thing!”

**_AND HE HAS SERVED THE SENTENCE OF TWO SOULS._ **

“Kravitz is--Kravitz is _two thousand_ years old?”

Lup runs her hands over her face because, that is somehow less of a surprise than the rest of this bullshit, “Okay. Okay, so what you’re saying is that Kravitz is gonna have to choose between us and some girl he literally sold his soul for? Who _was_ she?”

_**I CANNOT TELL YOU THAT, HIS STORY IS NOT MINE TO SHARE UNLESS HE DEIGNS IT SO.** _

Lup lets out a frustrated growl that only subsides when the Raven Queen’s other hand lifts and delicately strokes her massive forefinger over Lup’s back. It startles her, more than she’d readily admit, but it also sends a wave of calming energy skittering down her spine. The Reaper breathes a little easier, and her thoughts come in unclouded by panic.

“Thanks for the talk, Big Momma. I’ve got a lot to think about.”

Lup can still do something she just--She needs to regroup, she needs information, and she needs Barry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hot minute but I'm back! The Raven Queen is super fun to write, especially in relation to Lup.


	5. Orphic Interlude

Once a man fell into deep despair. He could not eat nor sleep for the loss of his child, but his hands still played her lullabies every night. People came from far and wide to listen to hear the music, as beautiful as it was heart-wrenching. All who heard his mournful lullabies were reduced to the same unending tears the man himself shed.

People offered the man gifts of gold, cloth, and jewels to make it stop, to free them of their second-hand sorrow. Finally, a great and powerful dark wizard offered the man an exchange, if he would submit himself to the wizard’s service, play only for him then the wizard would use his dark, necromatic magic to raise the lost little girl back to the land of the living.

The man refused them all.

No one in the land of the living could answer his request, could return to him what he had lost--but in the astral plane, he knew of a Queen. Stories told of her being mightier than all others, cold and powerful, the overseer of the dead. The man would not follow the necromancer’s plan, disgusted by the idea of dark magic tainting his beloved little girl but he would follow his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second orphic interlude! Make sure you didn't miss the previous chapter if you only got an email for this one.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a slut for oprheus and eurydice and this has been my general theory of how Kravitz became a reaper for a while and TAZ writer's discord helped me flesh out the idea into a better one!


End file.
